Confucius lived in the Spring-Autumn period, which was an age of continuous warfare between states. Hence, his preaching finds a relation between causes of ills in society and ignorance of people about their place in life and loss of virtue by rulers. As he found differences between ruled and rulers, he did not believe in equality of human beings. Hence, it can be termed as the promotion of elitism, which prompted commoners to obey the rules of government. He supported his argument for the sake of social stability at the time of chaos.
The Master said, “One who governs through virtue may be compared to the polestar, which occupies its place while the host of other stars pay homage to it.” (Analects, 2:1) Confucius concentrates on virtue of rulers in order to establish harmony among the subjects. As he concentrates on virtue of rulers, one can understand that the rulers in period of Confucius did not have that virtue and fought among them for supremacy. He talks against depraved thoughts as follows, indicating that his intention is to remove evil thoughts from the rulers.
The Master said, “In the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one sentence “Having no depraved thoughts.” (Analects, 2:2). Confucius’ principal intention is to ask people to abide by the law and wants the rulers to be the persons of virtue and character.
Diagnosis of Societal Ills
Hence, two important diagnoses in the above discussion are lack of virtue in rulers and the presence of lawlessness in societies that are frequently facing wars between different states.
Possible Solution from Confucius Thought
The first societal ill diagnosed is the lack of virtue and capacity in rulers. Through Confucius’ conversation with Zengzi, one can understand that Confucius is trying to reveal his intentions regarding the qualities of the ruled, yet stresses the importance of different duties of rulers.
Zengzi said, “Each day I examine myself on three things: In planning on behalf of others, have I failed to be loyal? When dealing with friends, have I failed to be trustworthy? On receiving what has been transmitted, have I failed to practice it?”
The Master said, “In ruling a state of a thousand chariots, one is reverent in the handling of affairs and shows himself to be trustworthy. One is economical in expenditures, loves the people, and uses them only at the proper season.” (Analects, 1:4-5)
Hence, Confucius used the context of doubt by Zengzi to tell his intentions about the duties of rulers to rule a country peacefully. He mentions attention to business and sincerity to reflect smooth transactions between people. Moreover, the phrase ‘economy in expenditure’ indicates the need of austerity in rulers instead of pomp and gaiety in their activities. Moreover, according to him, a ruler cannot be just a fighter as the kings of the period of Confucius thought about themselves. He/she should be a kind person who assures the livelihood of people as well as their protection (The Analects of Confucius).
Outlook of Confucius
As per the situation in spring and autumn period of history, Confucius proposed a humanistic outlook that is against the abandonment of the world thus supporting perseverance and application of thought as well as knowledge. In the above course of humanistic outlook he supported the austerity and tried to preach simple living by saying that the important virtue for a ruler is not to feel discomposure even in the absence of recognition. Hence, the above aspect tries to develop patience as well as tolerance towards others (Analects of Confucius, Chapter 1). Moreover, he emphasizes virtue in rulers and by comparing a virtuous ruler to a pole star, which makes all the stars revolve around it. However, he insists on ruled being obedient and further clarifies that the obedience in the ruled comes from the virtue in the rulers. He further insists that the obedience in the ruled, which is a result of virtue of the rulers, is capable of making the ruled being shame about the wrong they committed. Hence, Confucius prefers the above feeling of shame instead of punishment proposed by legal system (Analects of Confucius, Chapter 2). In addition to that Confucius emphasizes ritual as well as propriety in rulers to avoid wars between them. The above aspect is for cultivating virtues in the rulers. He preferred sparing to extravagant in case of ceremonies and counted on sorrow rather than observances in case of mourning ceremonies. Hence, he tried to develop a sense of simple living that does not disturb others or tried to avoid the disturbance for the ruled from the extravagance of rulers (Analects of Confucius, Chapter 3).
However, the above aspects attracted criticism from legalists as there is no system to punish the culprits as Confucius’s theory is to avoid doing a sin. Though he supported filial nature for the ruled in domestic contexts, he suggested that nature for the rulers also to expend all their strengths for the welfare of the people. He demanded filial nature in the rulers as well as the ruled to maintain harmony in the society (Analects of Confucius, Chapter 8).
Laozi’s Solution for Chaos in Society
Laozi’s poetry finds its base in spiritual aspect that searches for eternal truth, which rejects material experiences. It agrees on existence and emphasizes truth by denying that. This can be understood from Dao De Jing.
“The Way that can be spoken of is not the constant Way;
The name that can be named is not the constant name.
The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth;
The name is the mother of all things.”
The meter in the above text focuses on alliteration and concentrates on equal number of words in each line thus giving a sense of rhythm to understand the concept. However, the concept of searching for a spiritual truth follows a way of abstract nature in learning about implications. In the following stanza, the abstraction of beauty finds emphasis for the sake of indicating the implication of ugliness. In addition to that the abstraction of good implies evil. Hence, Laozi emphasizes being alert to understand beauty, good and natural.
“When everyone in the world knows beauty as beauty,
ugliness appears.
When everyone knows good as good,
not-good arrives.”
The evil implied can be compared to the frequent wars by the rulers in that period and good abstracted can be understood as lack of virtue. As lack of virtue in rulers resulted in frequent wars between different states, Laozi talks about attaining peace without action. Without unnecessary praise he wants to avoid contention thus indicating his opposition to war. Even the beauty do not need exhibition to avoid desire and thus avoiding the proud exhibition of valuables that result in the prevention of theft. Hence, Laozi preaches ascetic life for rulers thus asking them to rule like a sage. The above aspect in Laozi’s poetry indicates the lawlessness in the society and the necessity of weakening of ambitions by rulers that can find livelihood for the ruled instead of exploiting them. Simultaneously, Laozi talks about the lack of knowledge in people that leads to harmony. The narration appears to be that, the author is supporting the aspect of keeping people ignorant thus paving way for rulers being characterless. Hence, in the above context, Laozi talks about the way, which is limitless and thoughtless as he claims that one does not know where the way comes from. However, he claims that it comes before nature. After that he praises nature and indicates his respect towards it while living. Thus he asks to limit the desires.
Conclusion
As a whole, Confucius and Laozi support the virtue in leaders and obedience, submission as well as ignorance in the ruled as the solutions for the societal ills in their period. In the course of that proposition they even rejected the legality in the society and the laws to govern it. According to them, the laws and legality lead to limitless desires. Hence, they claim that the solution for the problems in society is to live according to nature. The rulers should rule virtuously when the ruled are ignorant. Hence, the spiritual nature, as well as the control of desires with the development of character, is the possible solution proposed by Confucius and Laozi for the societal ills in their period.
Bibliography
Yao, Xinzhong. Introduction to Confucianism. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.